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284 Harmless Souls
penetration is possible only when the mind is free from all impurities and is fully developed through meditation. 13
For the Jains too, partial, intellectual knowledge puts one on the ladder which leads to absolute knowledge and liberation.
It is interesting to note that, with the developing stress in Jaina theory on knowledge and self-realisation as the means to liberation, there is an increasing tendency to borrow Buddhist terminology; for Buddhism clearly has a more developed and sophisticated ready-made vocabulary for describing inner discipline and experience. One example of this which is significant in the present context occurs at Samayasāra 293-299. The relevant passage reads:
Having clearly known the nature (svabhāva) of what binds and the nature (svabhāva) of the self (ātman), he who has no attachment to what binds attains liberation from karma [293]. The jiva and bondage are differentiated [lit. 'cut'] by their own essential and distinctive characteristics. Cut by the knife of discriminative wisdom (pannā / prajñā), they fall apart [294]. [When] the jiva and bondage are differentiated by their own essential and distinctive characteristics, bondage should be cut away and the pure self grasped [295]. How is the self grasped? The self is grasped by discriminative wisdom (prajñā). Just as [the self] is separated (from bondage) by prajñā, so it should be grasped by prajñā [296). The conscious being (cetayitā) to be grasped by prajñā, I am that in reality; whatever mental states (bhāva) make up the remainder should be known to be other than mine [297]. The perceiver (datthā / drstā) to be grasped by prajñā, I am that in reality, etc. [298] The knower (nādā / jñātā) to be grasped by prajñā, I am that in reality, etc. [299].
13 Rahula p. 49.
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